Jens

Last night I headed up to Portland to see Jens Lekman in concert.

It was amazing, better than I could have ever hoped. The wait outside the venue was cold and I missed the chance to meet up with the Portland crew – it turned out that their midterm was 5-8pm. Inside, though, the opening band was good (Throw Me the Statue), and I slipped forward into the crowd as they played. 

Shortly after they finished, Viktor Sjoberg came out and started to mix a bit on his laptop – it built up until Jens and crew came out with piccolos and flutes flashing and started off the set with Into Eternity. Here’s the rough setlist (the order is a bit jumbled):
Into Eternity
Opposite of Hallelujah
Your Arms Around Me
Sipping on the Sweet Nectar
The Cold Swedish Winter
Maple Leaves
Postcard to Nina
You Are the Light
A Strange Time in My Life (partial)
A Sweet Summer’s Night on Hammer Hill
Friday Night at the Drive-in Bingo
You Can Call Me Al
Shirin
Pocketful of Money

I danced along to all of it, throughly enjoying the matching outfits, amazed at how faithful to the albums the performance was, but even better, which I didn’t think was possible.

I’m not sure how to put into words how happy it all made me, but, it did, beyond all reason. Here’s one reason, which the happiness is beyond, but which it rests squarely upon: I had the sense that as polished as the performance was, mistakes were ok, and more than that, being a little goofy, and able to laugh at the world and one’s self in a non-depricating way was really important.

That may not make a whole lot of sense, and I thought I was going to be able to write about the experience a bit more coherently, but I’m not sure that I can. Suffice it to say, it was entirely worth the very low ticket price, and the gas money and time committment of driving up from Eugene.

And now, off to sleep, having decided against the study abroad option, as hard as it was. Wish me luck on my structures test tomorrow…and wish me even more luck in getting through the rest of the semester – I think its really going to ramp up from here as we move towards the final.

Lucky Dog

Hey, it all comes together -
I just read that with 2006 being the year of the dog in Chinese zodiac, I was bound to have a rough year, since I am a dog. Evidently, when your year comes up, you’re in conflict with the god of ominous, so you have an unlucky year unless you take precautions in the first 15 days of the year. So, watch out every 12 years for your unlucky year…

Actually, the year went well overall for me, despite the rough patch this last semester. After all, I had a fantastic time in Vermont, got into grad school, drove safely across the country, settled into life in a new part of the world, and made lots of new friends. This time of the year you remember how many good old friends you have, too. Last night Ryan called, and I’ve recently talked to Hans, Joe, Stefan, and Tad. The list of folks to call is even longer, but I can’t help but feel warm and happy about getting a bit of time to catch up with friends. I guess it’s my fault for not being on MySpace, but I feel a bit old fashioned about that whole thing with the unreality aspect of it all, plus I think I’m a bit squeamish about being too accessible.

Which leads me to a recent two-part revelation: 1) I just want everyone to love me. Therefore, when boys ask me out or make a move, I get nervous that if I go out with them, other people won’t be able to love me as much (an irrational fear, I know). 2) I just really like to spend time by myself and not be accountable to anyone else for that time. That means that when boys ask me out or make a move, I get nervous that they are the type of person who will want to spend significant amounts of time with me and have me think about how I ought to spend time with them.

These two qualities lie at the base of my perpetual singledom, and they’re in my power to change. What a nice Christmas present to self. Yay for overanalysing situations. We’ll see what this revelation means for my future love life…

Ok, and the other topic I wanted to cover today: the rough draft of my playlist.

1. Wayside (Back in Time) – Gillian Welch – Soul Journey
2. Passing Afternoon – Iron and Wine – Our Endless Numbered Days
3. Pink and Blue – The Mountain Goats – All Hail West Texas
4. Swansea – Joanna Newsom – The Milk-Eyed Mender
5. The Stranger Song – Leonard Cohen – Field Commander Cohen Tour 1979
6. Girl in the War – Josh Ritter – The Animal Years
7. Ship out on the Sea – The Be Good Tanyas – Chinatown
8. Homesick – Kings of Convenience – Riot on an Empty Street
9. Bed is for Sleeping – Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Superwolf 
10. Whiskey in the Jar – Belle and Sebastian – 
11. Santa Claus (Instrumental) – Bill Monroe – Bluegrass 1959-1969
12. Train, Train – Dolly Parton – The Grass is Blue
13. Just to See You Smile – Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – More Reverie
14. Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show – O.C.M.S

It’s my Countrified playlist, and I’m in the process of cutting down my Citified playlist, which is more ambient/indie. I was going for a mix of traditional and indie folk, but it’s got a bit of tweaking before it’s ready to run – particularly whether I’ll keep “Just to See You Smile” or trade it out for another Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy song.

Coming soon: the final cut of the two volume set of musics that I like very much, plus, reflections on the last semester, and maybe even the whole year.

Music, Culture, and Distracted Posting

Just sitting around at home, trying to work on a mixed CD for the folks at school.  We all promised that we’d make a mix of our favorite songs and then share, so as to increase our musical horizons.  When you listen to 10+ hours of music a day, sometimes you have to have someone inject some new sounds into your repertoire.  When I’ve got a resonable playlist, I’ll post it here, so you all can oh and ah at my fantastic musical taste.  I’m going to try to keep it pretty folky, since there was an original idea to have each person’s mix be one genre, and since much of my music falls into that very broad category.

I’m going to a conference call today on how my mother’s church can work with the new Orlando Performing Arts Center.  Kind of exciting to think that Orlando might have an answer to Playhouse Square.  It’s not nearly as much of a cultural wasteland as you naysayers out there may think.  Or at least it won’t be in five years.

Actually, when you think about a new performing arts center, you realize just how much interesting culture there is in a place.  I think that once it’s consolidated, people will take quite a different view of the city, and perhaps the city will take a different view of itself.

I’ve got to get going so that I can drop mom at work and have the car to get to this meeting later.  I got a new licence, with a horrible picture, for this very moment.  So, more on cultural development and Orlando next time.

Postscript is that I’m staying at mom’s until Monday night, so photos won’t be up until Tuesday at the earliest.

Are we there yet?

Just thought I’d take a moment while I’m sitting outside of the model shop to write a word or two. I’m waiting to get a sheet of wood laser cut with the title of our project and a scale figure, but I have a strong suspicion that no one is going to be here tonight. Guess we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way.

We’re so close to being done, and I’m so ready. Last night I pulled my first all nighter of grad school. Having spent quite a while making my disappointing web page, I then had to scramble to make a model and draw a perspective for the spatial composition review this morning at 8:00. Luckily, I really enjoyed making the model, and thought it was perhaps the best exercise I’ve done so far at school. We were each given patterns – generally plans, but some less representational patterns, too – and had to transform the 2-D pattern into a 3-D spatial composition. The space had to be architectural and have a program.

I chose to make an art school from one of Tadao Ando’s plans. I used it in section, though, and had a subway stop with pneumatic tubes, and then a lecture hall, a gallery/hallway, classrooms, studios filled with diffuse north light, a pool for studying how things move underwater, and a field for setting up landscapes and large outdoor installations. I’ll post some photos soon – the model really was beautiful, and hopefully it won’t be too destroyed when it’s returned to me.

I saw Johanna Newsom last weekend after all, and I made the right choice. She played Book of Right On, Sprout and the Bean, Bridges and Balloons, the entire new album (Ys), Sadie, Peach Plum Pear, and Clam Crab Cockle Cowrie. It was amazing to see her alone on the stage, but with such presence, and I loved the material from the new album, which she played with a five person band. I managed to be at the edge of the stage because I won a free ticket to the next concert in the raffle before she went on. I had to pee the entire time, but it didn’t matter at all as I sat and listened.

I’d better get back upstairs, since no one has come to open up the model shop. We have one more project due tomorrow, and then we’re done for the semester! Hurray, I’m looking forward to visiting sunny Florida so much, and sleeping and running and eating like a normal person!

Final Review, Finally

So, another long time coming post. It’s been hard not to write more here, but clearly not hard enough – I’d say stressed is the word of the month.

We had our final reviews yesterday, and I thought it went surprisingly well for me, perhaps surprisingly less well for everyone else, based on what others have said to me. I was pleased that the reviewers generally liked my scheme, despite the fact that part of it was aptly described by the first reviewer as looking like a double-wide. I felt like my insistance on exploring a few ideas was reinforced, and the reviewers had helpful ways of how to make some decisions more readily in order to push the ideas to the forefront. Primarily, one reviewer explained to me a process of diagramming that seemed like a revelation, and I’m excited to try it next term.

I have to admit, I was pretty depressed about my scheme before the review. Adding the landscaping definitely regained some of the cohesion of the scheme, and brightened the outlook a bit, but I was still not as proud of my work as I was this summer. In considering why, I started to think about what I had learned in the semester, and realized that this course seemed much more about editing – about floating an initial idea and then sticking with it to sculpt it into something viable – than about exploring – questioning, coming at the project with a deep curiousity, trying many different approaches, and then settling on one. I’m sure I’ll be thinking about that more as I have my exit interview, but my hunch is that I’m of the second school, dispite how valuable it is to learn this method.

Ok, lots more to say about personal life and other bits of school life than I can really digest right now. I’m getting excited for the break, since I still have three more projects to push through. Those projects should be lots of fun, though – a website and brochure, a small cabin for a camp, and an abstract transformation from a 2-D pattern to a 3-D building.

I’ve got to keep writing, it’s amazing what this does for the sanity level…expect to see more soon.

Oh, and weigh in if you have an opinion – do I go see Thom Mayne lecture or Joanna Newsom sing on Saturday?

Been a Long Time Coming

Woah, back on the blog – I’ve been away too long.

So, lots of developments. I went into a bit of a funk for a few days when I couldn’t get my design for studio worked out. Called mom, talked it through with her, got a few ideas, came into studio and worked out the plan in less than an hour. Woo Hoo. But then again, after worrying over the plan for so long, I lost a bit of what the overall architectural vision of the place is. Recoverable, and that’s the next task, after all, but a little scary to find oneself so unsure of something that is really the basic unit of what makes a plan architecture.

Anywhoo, on to more exciting/recent developments, I voted today, and I hope that you did too.

Sunday night I drove up to Portland with a greatly reduced crew to the Bonnie Prince Billy concert. A bunch of folks bailed on the show, but thanks the power of Craigslist, we were able to resell the tickets no problem. The show was awesome despite the fact that I only recognized about four of the songs, and the fact that we were sitting about 10 feet away from a guy who decided to heckle for the entire show.

The rain in Portland that night was particularly bad – we think that the leaves had covered all of the storm drains, and we actually had to cross in the center of streets because the intersections had become impassable rivers. Also, there was a rumor that there was a small earthquake while we were in the show! The rain, though, has started in a serious way, and it’s impossible to keep dry, although my Patagonia jacket does well for the top half. Gotta get some fenders and some rain pants.

Big brother Dan is visiting, and he helped me set up a new external hard-drive for my computer, so that I can hopefully get my creative suite running fast, lightning fast… He’s also cooking tasty food for me, and we’ve gotten to chat a bit. Tough trying to get time with him while trying to be a responsible student.

Oh, by the way, on Friday, there was a really great lecture by the folks at Lead Pencil Studio. The work was inspiring, and it was fascinating to glimpse how their collaborative creative process worked/how they blurred the lines between art and architecture.

Ok, off I shall go to grab precedents for our little cabin we just designed for building construction – whoops, aren’t the precedents supposed to come first?